U.S. Sen. Patty Murray warned Tuesday that a Republican-backed proposal would make more than 250 million acres of public land eligible for sale — including some 5.4 million acres in Washington state, including parts of the Olympic Peninsula.
The Washington Democrat blasted the “GOP’s Big Ugly Bill” in a June 17 social media post, taking a jab at President Donald Trump’s so-called One Big, Beautiful Bill, the sprawling spending and tax package.
“We cannot let them jam through, in secret, a measure that allows them to sell our public lands,” Murray said in a video posted to X (formerly Twitter). “Say it loud and clear for Republicans: Public lands belong in public hands.”
The Wilderness Society land-conservation nonprofit is also sounding the alarm about the public-land-sale mandate embedded in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s budget reconciliation bill. The organization says that the proposal features a variety of “extraordinary giveaways aimed at privatizing public lands and advancing energy dominance at the expense of public lands and resources.”
The bill would mandate the sale of between 2 million and 3 million acres of Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service lands over the next five years across 11 western states, according to The Wilderness Society.
Aside from Washington, those states are: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming. Public lands exposed to possible sale would include local recreation and wilderness-study areas, as well as critical wildlife habitat.
Here in Washington, that means national parks and forests would be eligible for sale, said Michael Kelly, spokesperson for the Department of Natural Resources.
Asked for a list of the at-risk national parks and forests in Washington, Kelly replied: “I don’t have specifics but from what I understand, all could be up for grabs.” Murray put it this way in the video posted to X: “Ever go skiing at Snoqualmie Pass? That’s for sale. Thinking about hiking at White Chuck Mountain? That’s for sale.”
“Democrats, Republicans, everyone makes use of and enjoys our public lands,” she said.
White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly swatted down critiques. She said Trump’s One Big, Beautiful Bill will tap unused lands to unlock American energy, boosting jobs, the economy and housing availability.
“Patty Murray backed Joe Biden’s Green New Scam that made life unaffordable for working families — no one takes her seriously,” Kelly said.
Senate Republicans have said that the measure wouldn’t apply to national parks or other lands that are similarly protected. They’ve also argued that their version of Trump’s spending-and-tax bill would pave the way for more affordable housing to be built.
But The Wilderness Society cast doubt on such claims. The group contends that the sell-off provision lacks the necessary guardrails to ensure such land is used for housing purposes and says very little of the sought-after land would be suitable for home construction.
